Myths of the Rune Stone tells the story of how white Midwesterners created, adapted, and propagated a myth that Viking missionaries had visited their region and were “massacred” by local Indians ...
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Myths of the Rune Stone tells the story of how white Midwesterners created, adapted, and propagated a myth that Viking missionaries had visited their region and were “massacred” by local Indians prior to the explorations of Christopher Columbus. Popular enthusiasm for this story developed as a local expression of American exceptionalism that both affirmed and challenged status quo assumptions about the formation of the United States as a nation and what it means to be a “real American.” The narrative of a primordial, white, Christian sacrifice staked an exclusive claim to the landscape, shaped collective identities, and generated social power for groups that viewed themselves as “under attack.” In the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary, locals persisted in their belief in this Viking origin myth, using it advance their ethnic, racial, civic and religious goals. Although such myths are often thought to be the exclusive provenance of Scandinavian immigrants, Myths of the Rune Stone demonstrates their appeal to a diverse cross-section of residents, including Catholics and the descendants of Yankee pioneer settlers.Less

Myths of the Rune Stone : Viking Martyrs and the Birthplace of America

David M. Krueger

Published in print: 2015-10-01

Myths of the Rune Stone tells the story of how white Midwesterners created, adapted, and propagated a myth that Viking missionaries had visited their region and were “massacred” by local Indians prior to the explorations of Christopher Columbus. Popular enthusiasm for this story developed as a local expression of American exceptionalism that both affirmed and challenged status quo assumptions about the formation of the United States as a nation and what it means to be a “real American.” The narrative of a primordial, white, Christian sacrifice staked an exclusive claim to the landscape, shaped collective identities, and generated social power for groups that viewed themselves as “under attack.” In the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary, locals persisted in their belief in this Viking origin myth, using it advance their ethnic, racial, civic and religious goals. Although such myths are often thought to be the exclusive provenance of Scandinavian immigrants, Myths of the Rune Stone demonstrates their appeal to a diverse cross-section of residents, including Catholics and the descendants of Yankee pioneer settlers.

The introduction describes the origins of the Kensington Rune Stone and the culture that was built up around it by its defenders. It discusses broadly the class, racial, and religious distinctions ...
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The introduction describes the origins of the Kensington Rune Stone and the culture that was built up around it by its defenders. It discusses broadly the class, racial, and religious distinctions that influenced beliefs among Minnesotans regarding the rune stone.Less

A Holy Mission to Minnesota

David M. Krueger

Published in print: 2015-10-01

The introduction describes the origins of the Kensington Rune Stone and the culture that was built up around it by its defenders. It discusses broadly the class, racial, and religious distinctions that influenced beliefs among Minnesotans regarding the rune stone.

This chapter begins by showing how folklore was used to theorize the pre-Hispanic unity of different peoples of the Philippines. At the same time, the nature of folklore’s data—the contemporary ...
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This chapter begins by showing how folklore was used to theorize the pre-Hispanic unity of different peoples of the Philippines. At the same time, the nature of folklore’s data—the contemporary practices of people—lent it to social and political criticism, and so the chapter reads specific sections of folkloric writings for their critical qualities. It argues that the folklore writings of the Philippines followed relatively closely, and even could be considered part of, Spanish folklore, though this could signify a challenge to Spanish authority as much as recognition of it. Finally, the chapter considers the authorial voices of Filipino folklorists, and how they navigated between an intimate relationship with their subjects and the distant and objective voice of the scientist or documentarian.Less

Practicing Folklore : Universal Science, Local Authenticity, and Political Critique

Megan C. Thomas

Published in print: 2012-03-01

This chapter begins by showing how folklore was used to theorize the pre-Hispanic unity of different peoples of the Philippines. At the same time, the nature of folklore’s data—the contemporary practices of people—lent it to social and political criticism, and so the chapter reads specific sections of folkloric writings for their critical qualities. It argues that the folklore writings of the Philippines followed relatively closely, and even could be considered part of, Spanish folklore, though this could signify a challenge to Spanish authority as much as recognition of it. Finally, the chapter considers the authorial voices of Filipino folklorists, and how they navigated between an intimate relationship with their subjects and the distant and objective voice of the scientist or documentarian.

This book is a literary analysis of Pele and Hiʻiaka literature from an indigenous, specifically Hawaiian perspective, one inspired by the larger discussions of Indigenous Literary Nationalism by ...
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This book is a literary analysis of Pele and Hiʻiaka literature from an indigenous, specifically Hawaiian perspective, one inspired by the larger discussions of Indigenous Literary Nationalism by Native American scholars that seeks to add a Hawaiian voice to the conversation. It is also grounded in the Pacific and our continuing efforts within our own Indigenous Studies programs to negotiate our experiences and histories with settler colonialism and the misappropriations of our literatures that have been relegated to the realms of folklore, mythology, ethnography, and the postcolonial. Thus, this work also seeks to reweave the literary lei of Hawaiian traditions with the voices of our ancestors, unburdened by the often demeaning rhetoric of settler colonialism, articulating an understanding of Hawaiian Literary Nationalism through the analysis of one narrative and the application of complimentary indigenous approaches. Thus, basic questions that underlie this study are: what can an indigenous literary analysis of traditional literature look like? How is it different from what has been previously written within the context of disciplines closely associated with projects of settler colonialism, such as folklore studies, anthropology, and literary studies? What kind of positive effect can the recovery of our indigenous intellectual heritage have in understanding Hawaiian literary nationalism of the past, and its application for Hawaiian nationalism for today and the future?Less

Voices of Fire : Reweaving the Literary Lei of Pele and Hi iaka

ku'ualoha ho'omanawanui

Published in print: 2014-05-01

This book is a literary analysis of Pele and Hiʻiaka literature from an indigenous, specifically Hawaiian perspective, one inspired by the larger discussions of Indigenous Literary Nationalism by Native American scholars that seeks to add a Hawaiian voice to the conversation. It is also grounded in the Pacific and our continuing efforts within our own Indigenous Studies programs to negotiate our experiences and histories with settler colonialism and the misappropriations of our literatures that have been relegated to the realms of folklore, mythology, ethnography, and the postcolonial. Thus, this work also seeks to reweave the literary lei of Hawaiian traditions with the voices of our ancestors, unburdened by the often demeaning rhetoric of settler colonialism, articulating an understanding of Hawaiian Literary Nationalism through the analysis of one narrative and the application of complimentary indigenous approaches. Thus, basic questions that underlie this study are: what can an indigenous literary analysis of traditional literature look like? How is it different from what has been previously written within the context of disciplines closely associated with projects of settler colonialism, such as folklore studies, anthropology, and literary studies? What kind of positive effect can the recovery of our indigenous intellectual heritage have in understanding Hawaiian literary nationalism of the past, and its application for Hawaiian nationalism for today and the future?

Children’s literature has spent decades on the psychiatrist’s couch, submitting to psychoanalysis by scores of scholars and popular writers alike. This book turns the tables, suggesting that ...
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Children’s literature has spent decades on the psychiatrist’s couch, submitting to psychoanalysis by scores of scholars and popular writers alike. This book turns the tables, suggesting that psychoanalysts owe a significant and largely unacknowledged debt to books ostensibly written for children. In fact, the text argues, children’s literature and psychoanalysis have influenced and interacted with each other since Freud published his first case studies. This book shows how psychoanalysis developed in part through its engagement with children’s literature, which it used to articulate and dramatize its themes and methods, turning first to folklore and fairy tales, then to materials from psychoanalysis of children, and thence to children’s literary texts, especially such classic fantasies as Peter Pan and Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. It traces how children’s literature, and critical response to it, aided the popularization of psychoanalytic theory. With increasing acceptance of psychoanalysis came two new genres of children’s literature—known today as picture books and young adult novels—that were frequently fashioned as psychological in their forms and functions.Less

Freud in Oz : At the Intersections of Psychoanalysis and Children's Literature

Kenneth B. Kidd

Published in print: 2011-11-23

Children’s literature has spent decades on the psychiatrist’s couch, submitting to psychoanalysis by scores of scholars and popular writers alike. This book turns the tables, suggesting that psychoanalysts owe a significant and largely unacknowledged debt to books ostensibly written for children. In fact, the text argues, children’s literature and psychoanalysis have influenced and interacted with each other since Freud published his first case studies. This book shows how psychoanalysis developed in part through its engagement with children’s literature, which it used to articulate and dramatize its themes and methods, turning first to folklore and fairy tales, then to materials from psychoanalysis of children, and thence to children’s literary texts, especially such classic fantasies as Peter Pan and Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. It traces how children’s literature, and critical response to it, aided the popularization of psychoanalytic theory. With increasing acceptance of psychoanalysis came two new genres of children’s literature—known today as picture books and young adult novels—that were frequently fashioned as psychological in their forms and functions.

This chapter examines the transformation of oral tradition to written literature, providing a larger historical and political context for the publication of Pele and Hiʻiaka moʻolelo. A synopsis of ...
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This chapter examines the transformation of oral tradition to written literature, providing a larger historical and political context for the publication of Pele and Hiʻiaka moʻolelo. A synopsis of the literature is provided to help familiarize readers with the narrative. Cultural concepts expressed metaphorically, ground the literary analysis within the parameters of Hawaiian epistemology.Less

ku‘ualoha ho‘omanawanui

Published in print: 2014-05-01

This chapter examines the transformation of oral tradition to written literature, providing a larger historical and political context for the publication of Pele and Hiʻiaka moʻolelo. A synopsis of the literature is provided to help familiarize readers with the narrative. Cultural concepts expressed metaphorically, ground the literary analysis within the parameters of Hawaiian epistemology.

Chapter 2 discusses the cultural/historical background of the literature between 1860-1928. Traditional meiwi (poetic devices) and the transformation from orature to literature is centered within the ...
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Chapter 2 discusses the cultural/historical background of the literature between 1860-1928. Traditional meiwi (poetic devices) and the transformation from orature to literature is centered within the context of Indigenous Literature Nationalism and indigenous Pacific literature, pointing out the connections between culture, literary production, and politics.Less

ku‘ualoha ho‘omanawanui

Published in print: 2014-05-01

Chapter 2 discusses the cultural/historical background of the literature between 1860-1928. Traditional meiwi (poetic devices) and the transformation from orature to literature is centered within the context of Indigenous Literature Nationalism and indigenous Pacific literature, pointing out the connections between culture, literary production, and politics.

Chapter 3 focuses on the first narratives published between 1860-1893, how they weave performance and literature, and how orature and literature are layered and intertwined within the publication of ...
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Chapter 3 focuses on the first narratives published between 1860-1893, how they weave performance and literature, and how orature and literature are layered and intertwined within the publication of the narratives.Less

Lele ana ‘o Ka‘ena i ka M lie (Ka‘ena Soars Like a Bird in the Calm): Pele and Hi‘iaka Mo‘olelo as Intellectual History

ku‘ualoha ho‘omanawanui

Published in print: 2014-05-01

Chapter 3 focuses on the first narratives published between 1860-1893, how they weave performance and literature, and how orature and literature are layered and intertwined within the publication of the narratives.

Chapter 4 discusses the role the Pele and Hi‘iaka mo‘olelo played in Native Hawaiian culture. It analyses the importance of the narratives as they are related to place, and the centrality of ...
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Chapter 4 discusses the role the Pele and Hi‘iaka mo‘olelo played in Native Hawaiian culture. It analyses the importance of the narratives as they are related to place, and the centrality of place-based literature and traditional indigenous knowledge, with selected examples provided.Less

ku‘ualoha ho‘omanawanui

Published in print: 2014-05-01

Chapter 4 discusses the role the Pele and Hi‘iaka mo‘olelo played in Native Hawaiian culture. It analyses the importance of the narratives as they are related to place, and the centrality of place-based literature and traditional indigenous knowledge, with selected examples provided.